Friday, January 14, 2011

Lindy McDaniel - Unsung Hero

Lindall Dale McDaniel pitched for twenty-two years in the major leagues from 1955 to 1975. His career spanned the golden era of the Fifties, the pitching era of the Sixties and into the disco days of the Seventies. He had a rubber arm and made 987 appearances in the majors spanning 2139+ innings for five different teams. One of the most memorable things about Lindy was that at the age of 37 and 38, he made eight starts mixed in with his 78 relief appearances and threw complete games in three of them!

There is nothing in Lindy McDaniel's composite stats that make you shiver with delight. His 3.45 ERA sounds pedestrian. His career 1.272 WHIP sounds ordinary. He gave up his share of hits. The only thing his stats show us is a long and reliable career where he consistently took the ball and threw for as long as you wanted him to throw the ball. For example, in 1973, one of the years mentioned in the first paragraph, Lindy pitched 47 times, 44 of them in relief. He finished the game as the team's last pitcher 32 times. And yet he threw 160.2 innings! His record that year was 12-6 with ten saves AND a complete game start.

Lindy McDaniel was signed as a "bonus baby" in 1955 by the St. Louis Cardinals. As such, he started right in the major leagues because the rules for such signings stipulated that the player had to stay on the big league club's roster for two years who be exposed to the waiver wire. He only got into four games in 1955 but a year later, he appeared in 39 games and started seven of them. He finished with a 7-6 record and a 3.40 ERA. The following year (1957), he started 26 games out of his 30 appearances and had a very good year. He went 15-6 with ten complete games and a shutout. He finished with a 3.49 ERA.

Looking back at that year, you have to wonder why McDaniel didn't stay in the starter position. Perhaps the key was that he struggled mightily the next season, perhaps the worst of his career. He only started 17 games and pitched ninety innings less than the year before. He got lit up to the tune of a 5.80 ERA. After 1958, he was mostly a reliever.

His first big year as a reliever came the very next year. He finished 47 games in 62 appearances, won 14 and if the save was around back then, would have had 15 of them. He was even better in 1960, a year when he came in third in Cy Young voting and fifth in MVP voting. He went 12-4 with a 2.09 ERA in 65 appearances. If the save rule was in effect, he would have been credited with 26. And he found the time to start two games and pitched a complete game in one of them.

McDaniel had two sub par years in 1961 and 1962 but had another big year in 1963. Unfortunately for him, the Cardinals traded him to the Cubs after that season just as the Cardinals were about to launch on their post season run that included World Series titles. McDaniel was fated never to pitch in the post season.

He had a decent season and then a very good season for the Cubs before they traded him to the Giants in the deal that brought the Cubs Randy Hundley. He had a great season for the Giants in 1966 and a good one in 1967 and then they traded him to the Yankees, then the worst team in baseball.

With such a dearth of talent on those teams, a guy like McDaniel became a fan favorite toiling away for such bad teams. He had perhaps his best season as a pure reliever in 1970 (at age 34) when he won nine games, saved 29 more. He finished that season with a 2.01 ERA in 111+ innings.

1971 was a bad season, but in 1972 and 1973, he was below three in ERA again including the brilliant 1973 season already mentioned. But after that season, McDaniel was traded to the Royals in the deal that brought Chris Chambliss to the Yankees. Chambliss would go on to be a post season hero, so McDaniel brought value even at that advanced age. He gave the Royals two fairly effective seasons before he retired after the 1975 season.

Lindy McDaniel finished with 141 (against only 119 losses) wins and 172 saves. He managed to add in 18 complete game starts over his career and threw two shutouts. Perhaps his best stat was in pitching all those years and finishing with a 0.7 homers per nine inning rate. He was an effective and durable arm for 21 years and many of those were for bad teams. He is remembered fondly and his name alone brings many smiles to old time Cardinal, Yankee, Cubs, Giants and Royals' fans.

About Me

William Tasker is a writer, editor and photographer in Stuart, Florida. His photography specialty is nature in its most pure and natural state. His photography is available as prints and many items and home decor and office decor.
Tasker also writes for a New York Yankees blog and needs to get back to his own generalist baseball blog he has neglected for the past several years.

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